Born in Kansas in 1928, Virgil Burnett was an author, illustrator, and instructor whose work has been widely published in North America and Europe. He received his undergraduate education at Columbia University in New York, where he studied with Edward Melcarth, a Social Realist painter. In 1950, he was drafted, trained as a combat engineer, and sent to Europe where he served for two years in a propaganda company as an artist-illustrator. After his military service, he attended graduate school at Berkeley, taking a master's degree in Art History. When a Fulbright scholarship took Burnett to Paris in 1956, he encountered other expat artists including David Hill, whom he remained close friends with until Hill's death in 1977. Burnett also met Maurice Darantiere, a French publisher who made him aware of the expressive possibilities of the book arts. By 1960, he was working primarily as an illustrator. In the 1970s, he began as a professor in the Fine Arts department at the University of Waterloo. Burnett died in 2012

Stanley Karl Johannesen, born March 10, 1939, is an author, writer, and Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Waterloo. Johannesen was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Manual Training High School (MTHS) before going on to receive his BA at Evangel College, Missouri, and then his MA and PhD in History (1973) at the University of Missouri. Johannesen began teaching American history while completing his PhD at the University of Missouri and joined the University of Waterloo in 1969 where he remained until his retirement in 2004.
While at the University of Waterloo Johannesen was the first editor-in-chief of Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, an English and French peer-reviewed academic history journal published at the university from its establishment in 1974 until 1989. During his professional academic career Johannesen produced several papers and reports on teaching, religion, and cultural criticism and delivered presentations at conferences worldwide, from Korea to Norway to Cuba. Johannesen was also active in the American Studies Association (ASA)
Outside of teaching, Johannesen has published a number of essays, short-stories, memoirs, reviews, and articles in various journals and print publications, such as Queen’s Quarterly and the K-W Record, that reflect personal interests including religion, social issues, travel, and cabinet-making. Johannesen is also known for his books: “Sister Patsy,” “Luggas Wood,” and “The Yellow Room,” and is the co-founder and editor of Blaurock Press and, together with his wife Penny Winspur, co-founder of The Electric Ferry Press. Johannesen is also an avid blogger and maintains his own website at http://www.skjohannesen.com.